Daughter of a merchant, born as Maria James. She grew up in the
East and her father took her to Rome in 1785 to study painting
under Angelika Kauffmann. In Rome she met the young architect
Willey Reveley and after they were caught in bed together by
her father. They had to flee naked and they were married the
next day without the approval of her father. Maria was was only
eighteen years old at the time. In England they both worked
for the famous Jeremy Bentham and they had a son, Henry Riveley.

In 1797, for a few days, Maria took care of little
Mary, the daughter that Mary Wollstonecraft gave birth to shorty
before her death. In 1800 she refused a proposal for marriage
from the widower, William Godwin (Willey Reveley had suddenly
died in 1799). She married John Gisborne instead and they went
to live in Italy in 1800. The young Mary became well known as
Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein and it was in Italy that
Maria and Mary met again in later years. During a visit to London
in 1820 she kept a diary for the Shelleys. In 1820 Mary's husband
Percy Bysshe Shelley published his "Letter to Maria Gisborne".

After
the Gisborne's returned to England in 1821 and they settled
in Plymouth. In 1827 they visited Italy once more. They both
died in 1836 and were buried in Plymouth (Maria was buried on
April 23th).